| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 3/6/2003 3:24:10 PM Home School Legal Defense Association New Mexico--Department of Education Admits Birth Date Requests Exceed Legal Requirements |
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- March 6, 2003 Dear HSLDA members and friends, Many of you have received letters from Dr. Michael Kaplan at the New Mexico Department of Education notifying you that your homeschool registration form has NOT been accepted because it lacked the date of birth for your children. Those of you who received these letters have already been threatened with legal proceedings to enforce the Compulsory School Attendance Act. Thanks to the hard work of homeschool leaders and the courage of homeschoolers across the state, the New Mexico Department of Education has finally admitted that Dr. Kaplan's demands exceed the law. Because of this, we are changing our notice of intent form on the Home School Legal Defense Association website. On February 25, 2003, two homeschool parents met with Department of Education staff to discuss the problems with the notification procedures. Although the meeting began with some tension, Steven Sanchez, the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Technologies, was very helpful. The Department staff admitted that the law does not require birth dates on a notification of intent form, and recognized that homeschoolers do have legitimate privacy concerns. The Department officials were surprised to discover how intimidating their form letters seemed to a homeschooling mother who is concerned about prosecution. When they realized how threatening their letters sounded, they promised to rewrite them. The Department of Education has requested an opportunity to talk with homeschoolers at the Christian Association of Parent Educators of New Mexico conference in April. I will be speaking at this conference and look forward to meeting with these officials. For more information about the convention, see the CAPE-NM website at: www.cape-nm.org/2003_convention.htm. Very truly yours, Scott W. Somerville HSLDA Staff Attorney {{JoinAd}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 Phone: (540) 338-5600 Fax: (540) 338-2733 E-mail: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Subscribe: - Subscribe to the HSLDA E-lert Service at our website: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe - Or send an e-mail with name and complete mailing address to: subscribe@hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription Information: - You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: {{Email}} - To unsubscribe from the HSLDA E-lert Service send an e-mail from the e-mail address you want to unsubscribe to: unsubscribe@hslda.org - To change your e-mail address or make other changes to your subscription, visit the HSLDA E-lert Service account web page at: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid e-mail address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this e-mail address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any e-mail sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send e-mail to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also e-mail staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
